The Trophy Room LA presents an exhibition with artist Nobuhito Nishigawara titled Artificial Nature: Flora. An artist reception on took place on January 13, 2024. However, the exhibition runs through February 10, 2024.
Nobuhito Nishigawara Trophy Room LA
Artificial Nature: Flora combines a range of forms as well as expressions to unearth sensory and emotional aspects of experience. Drawing from Nobuhito Nishigawara’s immigrant experience, this series of works explores the dual cultural forces of Japan and North America that shape his relationship to identity. From his childhood in Japan to moving to North America to attend school as a young man, he recalls suppressing emotions in order to fit in.
Artwork by Nobuhito Nishigawara
Through this work, Nishigawara creates a framework for expression from which the natural material qualities of the sculptures are shaped and define the final outcome. Refined and gestural qualities with complex forms and dynamic surface treatments reflect the duality of Nishigawara’s identity—shaped through a combination of intention and circumstance. Embracing the malleability of clay, exploring spatial relationships, and harnessing the qualities of found unprocessed materials in nature are all avenues Nishigawara uses to articulate his complex relationship to identity.
The forms and materials hold layered meanings, creating a conceptual bridge to express visceral, unspoken layers of his experience. In some cases, the forms represent the space between two places he considers home—Japan and the United States— and in others, found stone reflects the prevalence of the material throughout his childhood city in Japan. Surface treatments with glaze infuse layers of meaning through color and texture applied as both a mask and an armor—hiding imperfections while constructing a visual identity.
Nobuhito Nishigawara History
Nobuhito Nishigawara was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, until 1990, when he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He studied sculptural ceramics in 1993. Then he graduated from the University College of Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada, in 1996. He received a BFA in ceramics from Kansas City Art Institute in 1999. He also received an MFA from Arizona State University in 2002.
His professional experience includes a prolific exhibition history, multiple academic positions, and also assisting Ken Ferguson and Susan Peterson. In addition to his teaching duties, Nobuhito Nishigawara exhibits his local and national sculptures.
Nobuhito Nishigawara was assigned to head the ceramics program at California State University, Fullerton, in the fall of 2006. Nishigawara is a Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Visual Arts at California State University, Fullerton.
On view: January 13, 2024 – February 10, 2024
What: Artificial Nature: Flora, Nobuhito Nishigawara
Where: The Trophy Room LA, 4134 Verdugo Rd LA., 90065
When: Running through February 10, 2024
Website: https://www.thetrophyroomla.com
